Going Home
by MaybeWeAre
Summary: For SQ Week: Canon Divergence. Emma is the one who stops Pan's curse, and now she's stuck in the Enchanted Forest while Regina and Henry make a new life in our realm.


Emma's parents keep saying infuriating things like "Welcome home," and she hates them for it. She's never felt at home a single day in her life, but this land, this castle, this family is certainly not her home.

It's not just that she can't stand the dresses or that there's no running water. It's that Henry isn't here, and neither is Regina. Emma doesn't miss Regina as keenly as she does their son, but she can't help thinking that things would be better if she was here. She would understand. Because while everyone misses Henry, no one does the way Emma does.

Everyone's so damn happy to be home, and Hook and Neal are constantly vying for her attention, and this might all be tolerable if Regina were here to roll her eyes.

It's their first night out of the woods and in the odd spiny castle that Snow and Regina once called home. Emma's parents have allotted her Snow's childhood room, but it's ridiculously pink and her relentless suitors have taken up the rooms on either side. She persuades Ruby to take it and sets off to find a space for herself.

Emma doesn't like crying in front of others if she can help it, but she's been bottling everything up for too long. She wants to find the farthest point in the castle and scream about how unfair this all is. So she sets off for the wing that everyone else has shied away from. And although no one has said it aloud, Emma knows this was Regina's space.

They're all still afraid of her even without her here. No one has admitted to missing her, despite all she's done for them.

It's easy to determine that the ornate doors at the end of the hall lead to Regina's private chambers, and Emma finds herself in a room decorated in rich reds and purples. The giant mirror on the wall, somewhat resembling the one in the mayor's office, is a dead giveaway. And there are vials and bottles of either makeup or poison, Emma's not sure. A closet brimming with gowns. A four-poster bed, the black wood of the frame carved into the shape of twisted trees growing up towards the high ceilings.

Emma climbs in between the silk sheets and buries her head in a pillow and screams until she aches. She cries for everything she's lost, the world she knows and the son she loves and whatever Regina was to her. The only thing that lulls her to sleep is the knowledge that somewhere, the two of them are happy and safe.

* * *

As the months pass, it only gets worse.

There's a witch too powerful for Emma to imagine fighting, but as the savior she's expected to have some sort of miraculous solution. And then Snow tells her she's pregnant, and Emma spends the rest of the day in Regina's bed, miserable because she knows they're replacing her and because she will never have the chance to see her own child again.

She just wants to go back. She wants Regina, because Regina would know what to do.

* * *

Emma wakes to lights coming on and a scream. It takes a moment to remember where she is. She can't remember much, just watching Regina and Henry go as the curse clouded them from view.

She's in someone else's bed, and from the way Regina is staring at her from the doorway, she's pretty sure it's Regina's.

"What are you doing here?" they ask in unison, because Storybrooke isn't supposed to still exist and Regina is supposed to be in New York and Emma is supposed to be in the Enchanted Forest and definitely not in Regina's bedroom.

"I don't know," Emma says, getting up. "The last thing I remember is you leaving. Why are you back?"

"It's been a year," Regina tells her, and Emma knows that's true because she _misses_ Regina. "I didn't remember any of this, but then a few hours ago it all suddenly hit me and I knew Storybrooke was back."

"Henry?" Emma asks hopefully.

"Sleeping in the car." Regina takes a few tentative steps forward, but it's Emma who reaches out and initiates the embrace. Once it starts, neither can seem to let go. Emma knows she's crying and she thinks Regina is, too, but she can't see past her own tears to know for sure.

The crying slows but the clinging continues, and then Regina kisses her. And everything comes back. The lonely year alone, the witch, the sleepless nights in Regina's other bed. How long she's wanted that kiss. So she steals another, puts the memories aside to sort through later.

"Mom?" The burst of magic woke Henry and he's hurrying up the stairs. Emma hardly has time to let go of Regina before her son flies into her arms. Regina stands back, and she's smiling through the tears, and after Emma gives Henry a good long squeeze she beckons for Regina to join them.

And this, this is home.


End file.
